1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to system diagnostic designs and more specifically to built-in-test diagnostics and analysis.
2. Background
Diagnostic designs, known collectively as built-in-test (BIT), consist of hardware circuits and software code that are designed as a series of automated tests used to sense when a system performance parameter has exceeded some preset limits.
BIT data and recorded parameters are often provided by the diagnostic design. However, due to the volume of data, format of data, or BIT design, the analysis of the BIT data may be time consuming or difficult because of the need to interpret the data or make the data understandable. Furthermore, other data of interest may need to be identified and used with the BIT data to identify and isolate the cause of a particular system condition.
For example, diagnostic systems utilize information captured during system operation in a data storage unit. This information is captured in the form of a hexadecimal data file. The data file captured may contain a multitude of recorded parameters in addition to the built-in-test data for components in the system of interest. Manual analysis of this file may be difficult due to the size and format of the hexadecimal file. Manual analysis is further complicated by the need to interpret which portions of the hexadecimal file represent built-in-test data and additional data of interest as opposed to other data which is not useful for diagnostic analysis. Current methods of data extraction are tedious, and require multiple steps by the human analyst before the information is in a form suitable for analysis. The current methods may also require manually referencing the system schematics and subsequent operational data interpretation to evaluate the health of the system.